Climate change gets SETI-style simulations

Oxford University has launched a SETI@home-like joint project with the BBC to harness processing power from home computers to model climate change. Lead scientist Myles Allen told Reuters: “If 10,000 people join in, you are already bigger than the world's biggest supercomputer.”

The program will take an average home PC around three months to run a climate model from 1920 to 2080. The scientists say it will not significantly affect performance. Allen said the aim of the 500,000 permutations was to get an accurate picture of changes that occurred in the 20th century.

They group also claim that extra electricity used for the experiment will be negligible, and so will not contribute to further greenhouse gas emissions.